Off With Their Heads Read Online Free

the pavement. She turned to see the bloodied couple still following her, and she scrambled to her feet, ignoring the pain in her knee as she started running again. After a few minutes, she stopped to catch her breath, and saw that the couple were now far behind. Protima bent over, her breath coming in jagged gasps, thankful that the infected did not seem to move very fast. Protima saw an abandoned bicycle and began pedaling it, hoping that getting back to the hotel would mean at least some period of safety for her to consider what to do next.
    As she rode, she saw all around her the signs of a city that was tearing itself apart. Several pillars of smoke rose above the city’s skyline and people were running all around, and every now and then she got terrifying glimpses of groups of the infected, hunting people down like packs of wild animals. There were no policemen or troops in sight, though Protima wondered what good they would have been against an enemy that could not be killed.
    She finally met a small group of policemen huddled near a shop. The officer had a pistol in his hand, and the four constables with him were carrying rifles. The officer waved her down.
    ‘Miss, you can’t go that way, the entire neighborhood is crawling with Biters.’
    ‘I need to get to the Taj Hotel.’
    The officer shook his head sadly. ‘Miss, from what I hear, there are Biters running wild around there. Why don’t you go home?’
    There was no longer any home for her. Protima got on the bike and rode in a different direction, no longer sure of what she would do or where she would go. When she had learned of the plan outlined in Stan’s documents, she had agreed with his assessment that the men who had planned this were playing with fire. But now having seen firsthand what the infection did to people, she feared there was no real way to contain it. Like a wildfire, it would consume everything in its path before it burned itself out.
    She had been so lost in her thoughts that she almost did not notice the black SUV just a few meters behind her and closing fast. It careen towards her and she swerved out of the way just before it could hit her bike. The front windows were down, and she could see the driver and one more man. Both were Caucasian, wearing dark suits and wraparound sunglasses. She had seen many men like them during her time in Washington. Government agents.
    At first, she thought nearly knocking her down was an accident but then the driver leaned out. In his hand was a pistol. Protima was so startled that she lost her balance and the bike hit a bump on the sidewalk, sending her sprawling to the ground. That saved her life as the man fired and the bullet slammed into the wall over Protima’s head. The man was shouting something, but Protima’s ears were still ringing from the gunshot and she could not fully understand what he was saying.
    Protima sat against the wall, shocked. No US government agents would be openly shooting at someone in the streets of Delhi.
    The driver stopped the SUV and got out, walking towards her, the gun pointed at her. The second man remained in the car, but he now had a gun pointed at her as well. The man stood over her and said, ‘Dr. Protima, I believe you have a package for us.’
    Realization dawned on Protima as she recalled the confrontation she had with Appleseed back at the embassy. She stood up gingerly, feeling her ankle. The man’s expression was inscrutable behind his dark glasses.
    ‘Who are you? What right do you have to attack an American citizen?’
    The man smiled. ‘Look, Doctor, I don’t want this to be any more difficult than it has to be. You’re in way over your head here and you have no idea about just how far my bosses can go to get the material you have in your hands. Just give me the damn package and you won’t hear from us again.’
    It would be tempting to hand over the package, but could she live with the knowledge that she had done nothing? Tens of thousands had